I cut in line, I bled to death. When I got to you there was nothing left.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Best Movie of the Year

I used to be a huge fan of Tamil movies when I was younger, until I realized that I was watching the same movie again and again, only with different characters and slightly different subplots. It was almost always the typical good-poor guy versus the bad-rich guy who tries to force/deceive the rich heroine to marry him. The heroine may start off as a total bitch, but by the end of the movie she would have repented to become a nice docile Indian wife to the good-poor guy. Usually after she gets slapped around by the hero.

But today I saw this Tamil movie on Arts Central that made me realize that Tamil movies have advanced over the last 5 years. There was no bad guy in this movie, it was a movie that raised some pretty thought-provoking philosophical questions.

It's basically about a poor, naive and good young men (we shall call him A) who falls in love with this rich girl (let's call her B) and they hook up. They are really happy together, but then the parents of the girl tell her that they found a very eligible bachelor for her to marry, a good looking and affluent doctor.

B is caught in a dilemma. Should she stay with poor, illiterate guy who she loves, or marry rich, handsome doctor and live a comfortable life? She decides that the latter would be more sensible and tells the poor dude to get lost.

Now here is where it gets REALLY interesting. Our poor dude A loses it, tries his best to get her back, including and not limited to :

1. Calling B at home and asking her why she won't talk to him and avoiding him.2. Asking to meet B, and then falling down and grabbing her feet and begging her not to leave him, because he has no one else but her.

B tells him that he's invading her space and tells him to get lost. Seriously, I don't blame her. I mean if I was an Indian girl I would want a guy who isn't a pussy, like someone who can pummel me until I come to my senses and put me in my place. But she could have been nicer about it. All he wants was to be loved damnit!!

Anyway, after getting dumped , A does the most amazing thing - he goes to a local police station and tells the cop that he wishes to report B for lying to him when she said she will love him forever. When the cop tells him to get lost, he goes on a monologue about the unfairness of the justice system and questions why women can report sexual assault by men to the police , but a man who gets his heart broken by a girl can't report her for emotional assault. Because it's obviously the same thing.

He gets beaten up by the cop after saying all that. But he perseveres and finally he actually gets the case heard in the Supreme Court. The girl is at first pissed with A for dragging her into court and causing her a lot of embarassment, but then her fiancee admits to her that he would never be able to love her as much as A obviously does. B realises this as well, and while on the stand, announces to him and the court that she made a mistake and that she wants to be reunited with him once again.

So the case gets dismissed , and the girl runs to the guy outside the courthouse. But then the guy refuses to hug and start dancing with her. The girl becomes confused and disoriented because dancing alone isn't that fun, so she asks the guy why he is hesitating , now that they are together once more.

The guy looks at her sternly and replies that his love for her died the day she dumped him and told him to get lost. And that he only sued her to send out a warning to other women not to lie to men like him. And with that he walks away with a smile, leaving her bewildered and alone like how she deserves to be. That's what you get when you mess around with an Indian man!

The End.

I really loved this movie because I could relate to him on a personal level, especially the part where the girl tells him to get lost and to stop invading her space which I have encountered way too many times. But I realize after watching this movie is that girls who do that to nice guys like me should pay. And that's what I will do from now on. They will all pay!!!